Friday’s Men’s Basketball Results
Central Michigan 93, Alma 50
Kent State 102, Roberts Wesleyan 50
Indiana State 69, Ball State 66
Xavier 76, Eastern Michigan 53
Boston College 71, UMass 55

Recaps courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments

Central Michigan 93, Alma 50
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Central Michigan took control of the game with an 11-0 run midway through the first half, then coasted to a 93-50 men's basketball win over Alma in its home opener Friday evening at McGuirk Arena. Central Michigan opens a season at 2-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign.

Next up, Central Michigan hosts Youngstown State on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at McGuirk Arena. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET.

Interim head coach Raymoan McAfee registered his first victory and was doused with water by the Chippewas in the post-game huddle. He was named Central Michigan's interim head coach after it was announced Thursday that Andy Bronkema is on leave.

Two players reached double figure scoring for Central Michigan. Phat Phat Brooks scored a career-high 21 points on 7-10 shooting with four assists and five rebounds in only 22 minutes and Jake Bascom finished with a career-high 15 points (6-7 FG) and five rebounds. Uchenna Amene came off the bench to score a career-high nine points and Jalen Kampen also contributed nine points. Conrad Luczynski grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Chippewas held a 47-27 rebounding advantage, shot 51.5 percent from the floor (34-66) and assisted on 19 of 34 field goals. CMU also scored 44 of its 93 points in the paint, scored 27 points off turnovers, and had 46 points off the bench.

McAfee said nothing was different with the team in the leadup to the game.

"We had a game plan that we wanted to execute and we went out and executed it," McAfee said. "Nothing was different, I just had to speak a little bit more. I have great relationships with our players. Relationships help, but these guys are mature and have handled things well. They've helped me out through the tough time that we're going through now. Having those guys pick me up and giving the effort that they did tonight, it makes everything a little bit more seamless."

Brooks gave all the credit to his teammates for his performance. He also talked about how the team has kept together under Coach McAfee.

"I'm proud of how Coach Moan has handled things," Brooks said. "He's very calm and collected and he's keeping our guys calm and collected. He's been good. I'm excited that he got his first win as a Division I head coach. He's just trying to stack days with us and keeping us focused on the goal, which is to win the next day. All credit to Coach Moan."

"We are just trying to keep everyone focused," Brooks said. "Keenan, Jaxson and I met after everything happened and we just talked to everybody and said that 'this really doesn't change anything.' We still have the same goal, same mission. We can either let it push us back or push us forward. We decided as a team that we'd rather let it push us forward. We're going to keep living one day at a time and keep focusing on what we need to focus on."

"We won today, but tomorrow we've got to get back to work and focus on Youngstown State."

Bascom said the preparation for the game was exactly the same.

"Coach Moan is great and he had us prepared tonight," Bascom said. "He's been great and is forward thinking. We put our head down and kept moving forward."

Central Michigan took control of the game as it outscored Alma 19-2 over a six-minute first half span. An 11-0 run gave the Chippewas a 24-12 lead at the 7:23 mark. A Bascom dunk started the run followed by a Jayden Hackett 3-pointer off a Luczynski assist. Kampen hit a jumper off a steal and assist from Garner and Bascom followed with back-to-back layups.

Seconds later, consecutive 3-pointers by Jaxson Whitaker gave Central Michigan a 32-14 lead with 5:34 left to play in the first half.

The Chippewas led 43-23 at halftime as Bascom led the way with 12 points (5-5 FG) and Brooks added eight. CMU outrebounded the Scots 23-11.

Central Michigan's largest lead was 47 points with 1:55 to play.

"If we get stops and if we get out in transition, we are a powerful team," McAfee said. "That's what we want to do. We played the whole game in transition. That was the biggest difference between the first and second half. We played in the half-court a little more in the first half. We got stops and attacked the paint early."

Alma was led by Korbin Heinzman and Derian Williams, who both scored eight points.

Central Michigan starters were Luczynski at center, Garner at forward, and Whitaker, Kampen, and Brooks at guard.

Alma and Central Michigan met for the 103^rd time in men's basketball with CMU holding an 80-43 all-time advantage in the series. The Chippewas have won 18 consecutive matchups in the meeting dating back to Jan. 11, 1961.

Kent State 102, Roberts Wesleyan 50
Box Score
KENT – The Kent State University Men's Basketball team put together a dominant all-around performance in its home opener Friday night, defeating Roberts Wesleyan 102-50 inside the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center. The Golden Flashes (1-1) led from start to finish, taking a 49-15 lead into the break, and stretching the margin to as many as 58 points in the second half. Six Golden Flashes scored in double figures, led by Latif Diouf's 15 points.

After a scoreless opening minute, Diouf knocked down a fast-break three off a Quinn Woidke assist at 18:51 to give the Flashes a lead they never gave up. Kent State answered a Roberts Wesleyan layup with a 17-0 run that pushed the lead to 20-2 by the 11:03 mark. Woidke hit a three off a turnover, Jamal Sumlin scored in the paint and added a free throw, and Landon Vanderwarker threw down a dunk off a steal on a Cameron Williams assist. The defense fed the offense through the first half, and Woidke connected on four threes before the break, including one with 2:36 left that made it 45-10. KSU's lead peaked at 36 in the first half and stood at 34 at the half.

The second half picked up where the first left off. Diouf opened with a dunk off a Sumlin assist, then buried a three off an offensive rebound at 15:37 to make it 60-20. Godslove Nwabude added a pair of dunks, the second off a fast break to make it 85-33 with 6:09 to play. Kent State closed on a flurry of transition baskets, with fast-break layups from Jakhi Calloway, Jaymen Townsend, and Vanderwarker in a span of under a minute that pushed the lead to 58. Dylan Lakatos's fast-break layup with 2:07 left put the Flashes over 100, and Townsend capped the scoring with a layup in the final minute.

The Box Score Story
Diouf shot 6-of-7 in just over 11 minutes and added seven rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Woidke finished with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three, all in the first half, and Nwabude added 12 points off the bench with three blocks. Chansey Willis Jr., Williams, and Vanderwarker each scored 10. Williams also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists, and Willis added four assists. Brenden Moss filled the stat sheet with five assists, four steals, and six rebounds.

Up Next
The Golden Flashes will be back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 11 on the road at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. inside UNCW's Raiford G. Trask Coliseum.